WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Despite intense efforts by Democrats lawyers to keep independent U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader off November's ballot, he is on in 30 states.
And that means he is shaping up to be the spoiler Democrats had feared he could be for John Kerry, the New York Times reported Friday.
In nine of the 30 states in particular Nader could tip the balance in President Bush's favor, Democrats say. Those states are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, six states -- Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin -- were among the top 20 where Nader drew his strongest support in 2000. Electoral votes in any one of those states could determine who becomes president.
Nader draws far more from Kerry than Bush, said a spokeswoman for Zogby International. Polls aggregated from March through last month show that if Nader was not an option, 41 percent of his supporters would go to Kerry and 15 percent to Bush. Thirty percent would go elsewhere and 13 percent would be undecided.
